Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Minute Repeater: someplace else with music

Talking from experience, we can confirm that – outside watchmaking fairs – an airport is the place to spot an impressive concentration of beautiful watches. The rational behind it is the need to express power in some way.

Indeed, when a man of influence has to leave his comfort zone – where he is well known – for faraway places where he has to prove his power and his competence, he may need something familiar to bring him a sense of comfort. A watch is the only jewel that can be worn without risking coming across as uncouth or being out of place. It also bestows upon its wearer an ideal image created by the aura the timepiece gives off from the wrist. And at an airport the watch is as important as it is for globetrotters on long-haul flights to wear casual clothes that do not reveal their tastes instead of dressing up. Thus, the watch, last shield against giving the wrong impression, says it all. So much so as, in this case, everyone travelling in the same class is confined within a few square meters that they have to share wisely.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worltime

The right note for the right choice

Exclusive and visually striking, Louis Vuitton’s Escale Worldtime Minute Repeater is undoubtedly a timepiece with great potential. It will certainly catch the eye of enthusiasts with a musical ear in search of the reference that best shows their inner qualities and at the same time makes them discreetly noticeable. This dichotomy applies to the sort of aesthetes that could be described as introverted dandies and for whom the graphic richness, outer sobriety and inner complexity of this piece are perfectly suited.

This beautiful and original piece shows the great imagination of its creator and is available in pink gold and titanium. It is perfect for artists, spin doctors, talented musicians or fans of beautiful mechanics who wish to make the passenger next to them guess the hidden qualities of this highly poetic watch through the few barely audible notes it emits.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worltime

The mechanics of world time

The 44-mm piece, manufactured by the "Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton" features pink gold lugs and bezel and a titanium middle. Being a light metal, titanium guarantees the best possible sound. The watch is driven by a totally exclusive hand-wound mechanical caliber and has a 100-hour power reserve. The caliber, visible through the piece’s transparent back, is made of 447 components and features two useful complications: world time and minute repeater.

The dial was made by a dedicated craftsman in one of the workshops of the "Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton". Hunched over his binoculars, he spent more than 40 hours making each piece which, painted with oil pigments, was then put in the oven to stabilize the colors.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worltime caseback

The "face" of this watch is the first thing that catches the eye in this exclusive design. It was assembled with several rings that have a triangle at the center, which looks like a path leading to the time indicated by a fixed yellow hand.The external ring with the coat of arms and the abbreviations of the cities associated with each time zone can be spun anytime with the help of the winding crown at 1 o’clock. Pulling the crown to the second position sets the home time. The time displayed on the dial can be changed to that of the place where the wearer is by simply pulling the crown to the first notch and making the city of the corresponding time zone coincide with the tip of the yellow arrow at 12 o'clock.

Music to strike the home time

Whilst this creation was already well enough equipped with this functionality many globetrotters appreciate, Louis Vuitton and the watchmakers of "La Fabrique du Temps" refused to conform. Hence, they added a very original complication that made it possible to mark the "home time" on demand. In other words, the watch can signal the time of the place the traveler comes from and not necessarily the one that appears on the dial.

Painting the Louis Vuitton Escale Worltime's dial

This beautiful mechanics is set with the pusher by simply turning the gold winding crown until the home time on the bezel is aligned with the small arrow engraved on it.  With the home time set, the trigger hidden in the strap’s lug at 8 o’clock, which allows for the chiming of the hammers’ strike on the gongs to be heard, activates the minute repeater. Amplified by the piece’s titanium middle, it chimes the hour, quarters and minutes of the place chosen as reference. Further, to ensure the piece its rightful place everywhere in the world, it is water-resistant to 30 meters. This wonderful watchmaking complication comes with a gray strap that is closed by a pink gold deployment buckle for more safety. What could be better?